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[Canterbury Coxswain]

After an inspirational day at 17-09's on Friday, catching up on boat matters and the wonderful progress of his 1/12th Severn class lifeboat flying bridge area and windows, I actually got into the workshop [briefly] yesterday afternoon. I decided to try something different, so started on the stern hull side spray rails. I had purchased some K&S brass rectangular tube of the correct size, but needed to remove one of the smaller edge sides to allow access:

• to give access to bolt each unit onto the hull side [and finally to glue too]
• also to 'cant' down the top edge a 'smidge' to give the fall off angle for drainage - it is very small, but there. I shall, therefore, put a Perspex 'inner' inside the channel, with a shaped leading 'bow' facing section of the correct profile. This will be primed and painted before fitting.

The first try went wrong, the milling bit did just that - it bit, pulled and came through the side wall, kinking the unit at the same time. Went back and tried it on two more sections and both successful - phew! The Perspex is of 2mm thickness and the channel 2.5mm. I hope to get back to them this afternoon and tomorrow to finish off.
Note: The process put a very gentle curve in each section, so this will have to be corrected on fixing.
C.C.

[derekwarner]

Coolant for Machining Perspex  with a new unused HSS milling cutter

Kim.....I seem to remember that a cup of luke warm black tea + a drop of liquid dish washing detergent ....mix & use a hand spray pump to mist the cutter & the Perspex during the process ......with a slow feed...

Polishing Machined Perspex

This another lesson  .......[using Brasso polish & a miniature gas torch]

Derek

[Canterbury Coxswain]

Derek - Thanks for the tips - I already knew the second one, but this will be useful, although you will see below I have changed to white styrene now as the Perspex was too brittle, after cutting to size.
I am away looking after a relative at the moment, so thought, that before I cook the evening meal, I will Post where I am at with the spray rail [not that far as the week has not been what I planned in my diary!!].
The photos will be self explanatory - now I use Derek's 'yellow circle' technique.

• I marked off the RNLI plans the height up from the edge of the hull with a line and then added masking tape to define the line
• I cut a piece of the machined brass to the length
• I gently 'bent' the top surface downwards a 'smidge' for the water drop-off
• drilled four holes to take the hexagonal headed 12BA bolts - these heads slide in against the 'across flats' surfaces and stop the bolt revolving when the nut is put on the thread and tightened
• this was then done to fix the rail in place
• then a piece of styrene sheet was cut and cut-outs put where the heads fitted
• then finally the stern corner was angled at the same angle as the transom vertical surface
• the styrene was then 'loose' fitted

When I get back home I shall then shorten the styrene at the 'bow' end and fashion a tapered shape to fit in the front of the rail [1.25 inches in length] - just like the real item.
All of this will be on show at the LBES Knightcote Meeting [West Midlands way] tomorrow at the New House Farm complex. Might see some of you there?
Kim
C.C.

[Canterbury Coxswain]

This time last Saturday I was up in the Midlands at Knightcote, for the LBES Members Rally and Regatta. There were 98 folk in attendance, with 32 members and some 52 lifeboats - most went on the water during the day.
It was good to meet Mike and David Pendlebury with their two SupaCat tractors and carriages - all fully working like the real things! Much interest during the day centred round them. I had taken my Shannon display and postcards and made just over £50, which included seven orders for photo DVDs. David Reid had his MbD Shannon on display too, and it was good to see his approach to the stern deck access hatch [circular], the method he used of machining two wooden 'motors' as spacers to give the correct distance when starting to fit the electrical / electronics board and the way he had made the wooden upper steering position and wheelhouse access corridor. All in all another lot of interest in the Shannons. Speaking of which I spoke to Andy Griggs yesterday and he told me he is into drawing a set of 1/12th Shannon plans, they will be a few more weeks yet, however, if folk want to get in touch then mid-June will be the very earliest as he has preparation for Shows at the moment - so please give him some time, not a quick job! He is aware that all those that bought the early batch of his Shannons could get the RNLI ones, but the few score that bought theirs latterly are without, so patience might bring a reward. He has also been working on his 1:1 catamaran and this is looking absolutely spectacular!
Back to Knightcote. There were three 1/12th Severns which quite often were creating a wake and all seemed to enjoy their day at this wonderful venue. The afternoon had two guest speakers of whom Lesley Dexter spoke of the 1/12th Solent Class her late father built and she has now been 'gifted' and is using for talks, displays and fund raising.
Hopefully I'll be back in the workshop myself over the next few days, so maybe a little forward progress with my Shannon!
C.C.

[Canterbury Coxswain]

Got an email from Andy G. yesterday with some photographs of the 'work in progress' being made by our very good friend Chris Scott [Mr. Plastic Fantastic!] over there in 'President Macaron land'. Both have agreed I can share them with you, as they should both encourage and inspire. They have made me go back to my photos and plans and look at items I thought I understood or recognised - and yet again I have learnt more on certain symbiotic relationships, little details that differ between the Port and Starboard sides and 'pennies have dropped' in regard to how I will progress my scratch building of the detail in certain areas - wonderful!
On the brass stanchions - read Port for 'L' and Starboard for 'R' - sorry could not resist that!
Hope you get as much enjoyment out of these as I have in the past few hours.
C.C.

[Delboy1958]

Hi kim
I have to say Chris is doing a very good job on Andy's Shannon.
Thanks for posting the pictures

Regards
Derek

[Canterbury Coxswain]

Last Autumn I had a few emails and PMs to ask if I had attempted to 'marry' the upper steering position bulkhead [rear wall of the wheelhouse] with the wheelhouse itself. A few had found that theirs did not fit. So with David Reid's build and Chris Scott's photos fresh in my mind I thought I would have a little bit of 'fun' and get mine in and therefore make the rear of the wheelhouse a little more solid.
I will say now - it did fit. Here is what I did:

• Make sure that your centre line is drawn onto not only the 'bulkhead/wall' fibre-glass piece, but also the top of the wheelhouse roof.
• Approach the whole process 'little by little'.
• Leave the base [deck] line until last, to trim / file to the stern deck camber. This will leave the wheelhouse raised off the deck by an eighth of an inch or so as seen in the photos below, but when the top is correct the amount can be reduced until it sits snugly on the deck and the gap disappears completely.
• Remember to Sellotape the upper steering back rest and telecomms support piece across the access corridor to the Port side upright. This will give the correct slope to both sides of the wheelhouse walls. By cutting through this to open up the corridor the back 'springs' apart a little.
• Again, remember that there is a stern deck camber - so long as you have built it in. Do not just cut or file straight across, otherwise you will end up with it being too short - worth remembering at this point.
• Also, allied to the point above, make sure your deck is not just balanced into position, but screwed down to 'shape', if you have followed this route in your build.
• Use a small set-square to check the perpendicular during the 'dry fit' process
• You will see that I cut off two corners [highlighted in yellow] during this process to lower the top of the 'bulkhead' into position.

Do not copy what I did when I cut the search light locker aperture out [without consulting the plans!!] - this is wrong.................
But, as said earlier, that bulkhead supplied to me does fit in where required.

That said, I might well now use this unit as a template and totally recreate the bulkhead and instrument panel sections anew. That is because I want an opening hatch and also access and uniform thickness of build material to put some illuminated panel lights in later. However, on looking at the 1:25 scale RNLI plans this is quite small in detail, so I will need another trip to the photocopying shop to get it enlarged. Please see my next Post BEFORE following this build section from enlarged plans.
I think that is all for the moment, I will aim to catch this up to date with a little more later.
C.C.

[Canterbury Coxswain]

The next four photos will show that it all fitted and got trimmed down - plus the over trimming of the searchlight locker door area! I also wanted to square up the helm wheel location, also noting that the unit when fitted was level with the roof line. In reality this is slightly lower than the roof by 1.5mm on the 1/12th scale model, so having consulted the 1:25 scale RNLI plans where this is so, so small I decided at this point to get the plans enlarged and make a scratch built unit for myself.
Now to the next bit!! As my plans at '1/12th' were given me [provenance and enlargement size unknown] and I had a set of original RNLI 1:25th plans stating 'do not scale'. I decided to measure my actual model hull and then divide that figure by 52cms - the length shown on the plan . The actual measurement from the flat upright bow [not including the 'Y' strop access point and stem head roller forward pointing section] through to the stern 'name plate' upright [not including the projecting rubber fender section] was 43.75 inches or 111cms. So 111 divided by 52 = 2.1346 [and in normal 1/12th scaling that would have been 25 divided by 12 = 2.0833333], so my plans enlarged now are exactly what I have in front of me as a model - a 'smidge' over 1/12th scale. I can measure from these, scribe, cut and assemble without having to play around and possibly make a mistake! Also the detail is so much easier to see and measure off - QED!! Everything lays over the plans and is exact - a very happy modeller! I have already now noticed that the top doorway profile on the model is not parallel so will require altering - not a hard job, but the first thing to be done before progressing [last photo with yellow circle]. I have a busy two days ahead on other matters, but shall make a start on a grey styrene bulkhead to replace my GRP one during the odd spare moment.
However, I have explained what I have done and have in front of me. Please use what you have - if doing a build - but check your plans and model length to get your own personal exact measurements, this is critical.
C.C.

[derekwarner]

  Don't ya just love the logic in model boat building....

So 111 divided by 52 = 2.1346 [and in normal 1/12th scaling that would have been 25 divided by 12 = 2.0833333], so my plans enlarged now are exactly what I have in front of me as a model - a 'smidge'

Calculated to .......7 decimal places  ......and the final unit of measure is called ...a 'smidge'  .....

However it all looks good thou Kim.......

Derek

[Canterbury Coxswain]

Hi Derek [DelBoy] - yes, Chris is making a very good job of Andy's Shannon and it should soon be finished. Glad you enjoyed the photos. Look forward to seeing you soon at a Show.
Derek [DownUnder] - in my 'former life' I was a Home Office registered fingerprint expert with the largest police force in the UK. Now, beyond the identification of people by fingerprint patterns and ridge detail came Edgeoscopy [the unique fine detail along the edge of a fingerprint ridge] and Poroscopy [the unique shape of each individual sweat pore on the summit of a fingerprint ridge]. When questioned, many times on giving evidence at Court, Counsels would ask why the 'impression' [photograph of the 'mark'] appeared to be different from the 'impression' [photograph of the 'print'] for the exhibits being displayed to the Court. Because the skin has elastic qualities I would have to explain the 'forensic' detail and hence 'a smidge' of difference between the two!! Not being an engineer and working to very close 'fixed' tolerances of thousandths of an inch I have brought my 'profession' into the world of model boat building - long live the smidge!

Back to seriousness and the build. I actually got into the workshop yesterday and had a good day as what I started went well - although there are a few smidges that will need their tolerances to be be 'fine tuned' before the final fit.

• I used a circular slit saw on my Dremel drill and shaped the top of the wheelhouse to parallel sides and then finished with a file - as per the previous photo.

• I measured the wheelhouse corridor off the plans and got a depth from the back edge to the bulkhead [at 1/12th scale] of three and a quarter inches and then the width that was two and eleven sixteenths of an inch.
• I scribed these onto the stern deck area - likewise the width of the upper steering position life-raft container and step.
• I used the GRP bulkhead and then transcribed the shape onto a card template and cut out and offered up to the bulkhead area. Not too bad, but I had over cut both top corners so marked these and added arrows to remind me to make the alteration when I made the styrene bulkhead [2.5mm thickness].
• I then cut this out and reduced the top edge by 1.5mm to bring it down below the height of the wheelhouse, as on the plans and actual vessel.
• Using a small stainless set-square I checked that, give or take a smidge, it fitted.
• You might have noticed I have cut the 'gully' slopes to the two top corners.
• I then transposed the doorway markings and hinges from the plans onto this bulkhead - this was to make sure that all was symbiotic and 'pleasing to the eye'. It was and all appeared correct.

I will now start to get the corridor wall and upper steering position floor into place and attempt to make a temporary internal fixing for this bulkhead and upper steering position unit, as when it gets sprayed this could be a tricky conundrum - especially if using a 'rattle can', as they are unwieldy items. When this is done I will then start to measure and cut out the various facets of the steering / instrument panel array! Now that could be fun.
Well, off to more sport now - what a weekend - Monaco GP [just watched the qualifying], then America's Cup Sailing [good old Ben Ainsley Racing - BAR], FA Cup Final and tomorrow the Indianapolis 500 with Fernando Alonso qualified 5th as a 'rookie'. What a veritable feast of sport - now you know why, that what with choral singing, my model  boat builds are sometimes slow, 'GREY' and a smidge out!
C.C.

[TimpdonG]

Kim,


Can you, or anyone else, help.


I am trying to sort out the mast lighting for my Shannon, and am having trouble deciding just what lights I need.
From the plans, there seems to be:


Red/Green navigation lights on the radar platform
Single rear light just above radar platform - What Colour ?
One or two lights forward of mast below centre forwards facing platform - What Colour ? - Blue Flash ?
One forward facing light forward on top cross tree - What Colour ?
One rear facing light astern on top cross tree - What Colour ?


Have I missed any or got any wrong, and can you help with the colours. I have not yet been able to get to see a real Shannon, and none of the photographs I have give much clue.


Regards,


GeoffG

[mk1]

Hi the colour of the lights are all White other than the 2 lights  forward of mast centre facing platform top one Blue flashing and the one below it is Amber. So you should have 1Blue, 1 Amber, 3 White/Clear, 1 Red [Nav], 1 Green [Nav]. There is also a light at the rear of the mast were it fastens to the radar platform this has 6 small holes in it and is a White light.  Hope this helps any photos of your build?.

John

[Canterbury Coxswain]

Good [early] morning Geoff,
Yes, John is right and 'Posted' just as I was labelling the photo below. I hope this all helps and I will add a little extra detail.
In my 'arrowed' photo [courtesy of 17-09 who took this photo of 13-16 at Dover on her way to Amble]:

• the cluster of three are the forward 'steaming' white light against the mast [a 225 degree arc split 112.5 to both Port and Starboard] and the blue flashing 'on call' top light and the bottom hung amber light which denotes 'engine room taking water'. This latter one is for visual - especially at night and when noisy conditions cancel out siren warning sound.
• bottom of mast and stern facing is rear 'steaming' light - 135 degree arc.
• the higher gantry mounted small light is the 360 degree 'at anchor' light .
• the radar gantry extreme ends are the Port navigation  on the left and the Starboard navigation  on the right. These also have an arc of 112.5 degrees.
• the six LED cluster on the bottom rear of mast is the stern deck illumination light.
• there are the small black LED domed wheelhouse lights at the rear of the wheelhouse and along the sides and the two on the front facing surface of the 'nose'.
• the two fore-deck illumination LED cluster lights on the front of the wheelhouse roof.
• the two extreme fore-deck illumination lights mounted on the front uprights and bottom bar angle of the pulpit rail assembly. 5 through to 8 are all white too.

Please ask away if there needs to be any clarification.

I spent three hours at the Dungeness lifeboat station today, photographing [50 photos], measuring and drawing lots of detail around both sides of the wheelhouse corridor and also the upper steering position, mainly to give extra detail to the RNLI plans where this detail is not recorded and also to confirm a small detail which I think many will get wrong on there models - but more of that later [in the next few days] as I continue with scratch building these areas.
Hopefully, later today, I will get an up to date Post of what has been done over the last weekend which required me to visit Dungeness before I could proceed further.
Kim [C.C.]

[TimpdonG]

Kim and John,
[/size]
[/size]Many thanks for prompt replies to my lighting query.
[/size]Problem now solved, and I can get on with completing the mast and radar platform.
[/size]
[/size]John, no new pics from the ones I have already posted, as I have not had time to do any work on the boat for the last month. As soon as I have any more worth looking at, I will post them.

[/size]The radar rotator is built and working, using a Hitec HS35D servo converted to a motor gearbox, and the radar housing round it is nearly finished, so I have at least made a bit of progress.

[/size]GeoffG

[Canterbury Coxswain]

Before I go into the workshop for a few hours of 'me time' and Shannon build I thought it would be best to get the build up to date.
In looking at the RNLI plans [and I have the complete set] I found there were little areas and items that were not fully covered, sometimes 'overdrawn' by other items partly super-imposed on top and even not drawn at all. As this part of the build [wheelhouse corridor] impacts on so many other parts - upper steering position general layout + instrument panel/facia, wheelhouse door, side walls, rope locker, engine room vent and the Port side fire hose and hatchet / tool locker I thought a visit to the actual boat and some new photos and measurements with diagrams would help 'marry' the whole into a symbiotic relationship. I had also noticed that the top hinged section of the rope locker had a wider [higher] end towards the wheelhouse door than that at the stern end on the RNLI plans - correct it does - and I reckon that will be 'wrong' on a lot of models. Does it matter - not really, but I do love 'smidges' and just want to get it correct, as the crew members quite often look at this sort of detail and seem very pleased when we modellers get it right!! Other small items I think could be mis-represented will be:

• the small black stern and side wheelhouse LED lighting hemi-spheres. Well, therein lies the detail. They are not exact hemi-spheres, but are under a full half of a sphere, as if a slice has been taken off the back.
• the forward [extreme bow] deck lights which sit pointing down on the front surface of the front upright and below the bottom horizontal bar of the pulpit rails.
• the length of the narrowing front [bow] pointing section of the stern side hull spray rails.
• drain holes to the fire hose locker.
• the depth of the wheelhouse corridor upper steering position wall and the indentation to accept the wheelhouse door handle when open and 'latched' back.
• the slope to the upper steering position floor

All in all, well worth a visit and three hours 'pawing' over 13-02! The Cox'n [Stuart] and the Engineer [Trevor] were well impressed when I showed them the photos of Mike and David's 1/12th Supacat tractors and carriages - even more so when I told them they worked just like the real thing!
Prior to yesterday's visit you can see I have drawn the handle indentation on the wall, likewise the sloping upper steering position floor and angled the top of this wall to meet the wheelhouse bulkhead [stern wall]. These will be the first matters to address and agree with my new measurements. I have also added the detail on the other side of the wall too.  I used a Post It note cut-off to check the level of the step up to the upper steering position against the lines marked off the plans - they agreed. Also I used my Proxxon to remove some of the thickness [depth] to the side walls' top edges and the back-rest upright too. Some of this will be infilled with resin and tape before the extra wall cladding and detail is added. This is still a 'dry fit', but you will see that after the use of the Proxxon delta sander the wall fits exactly into the newly created floor depth [39" in reality].
That's it - I think.
C.C.

[derekwarner]

..... "I measured the wheelhouse corridor off the plans and got a depth from the back edge to the bulkhead [at 1/12th scale] of three and a quarter inches and then the width that was two and eleven sixteenths of an inch"


Kim...a dimension of 2 & 11/16" sounds near Edwardian  .....are the plan dimensions Imperial or metric?.....as in the next line you state.....

.....I made the styrene bulkhead [2.5mm thickness].

Mixing units of measure can be costly resulting in an increase in the thickness of the "Smidge" 

Derek

[Canterbury Coxswain]

Derek,
Great to hear from you. Listen, it must be my thirty years of deep ingrained crime scene work again, where I examined over 7,000 scenes on my own. There we used to have to measure, photograph and cast the single or double bladed end of instruments [normaly chisels or case-openers - 'jemmies'] in metric [20mm] and then describe where they were found [37" from floor and 1" in from opening edge of door] in imperial!! Seriously, it just depends for me what is to hand and also sometimes the gap / aperture I need to get the ruler into. Also my eyesight - certain stainless steel rulers are easier to read. However, it's easier to convert - I just revert to pulling the tape measure out to either the metric or imperial annotated measurement and then read off the equivalent in the other one. Likewise I now have one of those lovely vernier calipers where you can not only press the button to get or convert from metric to imperial, but also another 'press' gives it to you in fractions of an inch - wonderful!! Finally, with Brexit fast [or slowly] approaching, metric will be a thing of the past as we go back to using imperial in everything - some say! However, these Shannon plans state 'all dimensions in mms - unless otherwise stated' and then they give the plus and minus factors that exist, by which I feel they mean 'smidge factors'.
Just a pity we are so far from each other, otherwise we could meet at the local for a swift pint [or litre] and when down to the last smidge in our glasses, toss for who buys the next round!
Regards,
Kim

[Canterbury Coxswain]

Derek, another point 'in my defence' is the fact that on the actual Shannon lifeboats, some screws and bolts are in metric, others are imperial measurement and - wait for it - those bolts on the actual Scania diesel engines are a peculiar measurement which is devised and only used by Scania. For these the engineers have to hold a stock of Scania replacements! The difference is a mere smidge, but metric and imperial will not suffice.
Q.E.D.
Kim [C.C.]

[derekwarner]

  ....."Finally, with Brexit fast [or slowly] approaching, metric will be a thing of the past as we go back to using imperial in everything"

Goodness this will be interesting  ....just what version of Imperial Everything do you mean?

The way I read it......4 x Poppycorns = 1 x Barleycorn  which are 3 to the inch ....clearly these units fall into the percential band of mm......so your styrene bulkhead [2.5mm] thickness must have a new name......[of thickness]

By scientific mathematical manipulation  this appears to be [2.5/25.4 x 3] or 0.2952755 Barleycorns in thickness

So using Standard Tolerance deviation from Medieval times... maybe  + or - a  Smidgen

Derek

[kinmel]

I have found it easiest to use a trusted online converter which has it's very own precise definition of measurements and all conversions between other units are done via these Reg Standards

https://www.theregister.co.uk/Design/page/reg-standards-converter.html

 

[derekwarner]

Goodness  ...what a comprendsive converter that is 

I had no idea the 760 Wallnuts =110.5455 Bulgarian units of Posh Spices C-Cup -

No wonder all of the males in UK want a bit of that 

[Netleyned]

What about a Nat's C--k Hair 

Yesterday, I was in the Scarborough Lifeboat House
drooling all over the Shannon and it's magnificent
launch/recovery system, I looked everywhere but
I couldn't find the Smidgen Stowage.

Ned

[Canterbury Coxswain]

Right, the smidge has given us a lot of fun, thanks to Derek et al, but it's back to the build.
I shall re-focus on the serious side of the build - when all is said and done, this is model boat building!

• I used the 2.5mm wall, already drawn, as a template to make another one, but this time on 1.5mm thick styrene.....
• ....... and then cut the top section off the 2.5mm wall and using that a s a template cut another one out onto 1.5mm styrene.....
• ....... gluing this to the 2.5mm one, then gluing both [as one unit] onto the 1.5mm complete wall. This then gave a three piece laminated section of the top.
• I then cut out the bottom section - under the rope locker - on 1.5mm styrene and glued this in place. On the real boat the indentation is 55m in depthe and the top ledge of the bottom section is just 40mm in depth. This means that on the floor there is an immediate indentation after the 'back rest' upright of the upper steering position is passed. So in this area there are two areas where a mistake in detail is easily made, this and the sloping top edge to the rope locker's hinged access [on the real boat a 10mm difference - being the slope of the upper steering position's floor]. This is where the research, understanding and semi-scratch building gives satisfaction [for me!].
• I then cut out the rope locker access aperture and made a back plate, which I glued in place.
• At the same time I cut out the locker's two quarter quadrant drainage holes.
• At this point I put an initial radius on the edges that required them.
• Lastly, I used Humbrol filler to give a profile to the wheelhouse door handle arc indentation and used Dremmel drill tools to make the profile, but by hand - not in the drill.

I hope, with the use of the photos, this all makes sense?
Later today I hope to make a temporary fixing of this wall to the bulkhead and then start to put the u/s/p floor and step in place, along with the ledge in the u/steering position on the Starboard side and the engine vent access and fire hose locker above on the Port side of the wheelhouse corridor.
C.C.

[TimpdonG]

Further to my last post on a working radar for the Shannon, you might like to see the final result.
The motor/gearbox is a converted Hitec HS35D servo which fits neatly inside the body of the radar housing, and gives 20 rpm at a supply voltage of 0.85 V.
If anybody wants to go down the same route, but is not sure how to go about it, I published a Technical Bulletin a few years ago giving step by step instructions for converting the HS35D, or similar servo, to a motor gearbox, and building a controlled voltage source to give the required RPM. If anyone wants a copy, send me a PM with your Email, and I will send you one.


For the purists, I know that the radar housing is different from the RNLI drawings, but by the time the boatyard built 13-66, Furuno had discontinued the DRS12A radar, and they had to fit a later model - that's my excuse, anyway !


GeoffG

[Canterbury Coxswain]

GeoffG,
That's a very nice unit and should go well with the rest of your build. Many thanks for sharing this with us and for the offer of the 'internals'. Again a co-operative way forward on the build of this great Class of lifeboat. This is where MBM is such a fine product.
Kim